A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and rec'd this story. You guys totally rock!

This chapter is on the short side, but I think you'll understand it was necessary to the flow of the story after you read it. The next chapter is a bit longer, and the rest should fall in the 3-4K range for the most part.

Thanks to my awesome prereaders, Keye, Sandy, and Aleea, for their valuable feedback and cheerleading skills.

Thank God for my lovely betas, wmr1601 and Katmom, for wielding those Sparkly Reds. Mwah!

Chapter 4

~Into Darkness Fall~

You let me feel the place I might regret

Hearin' you call my name

Tomorrow lies in pain

Far away

~l~

Excerpt: Loaded by SEAL

Over the next few days, I miss the fact that Isabella never once asks me why I don't eat or sleep.

As for Isabella, she slowly gains strength. She begins eating again, watching more Seinfeld (she has the entire collection on DVD), reading, and writing in a journal she keeps tucked under her pillow. She's politely distant from me, and I try to stay out of her way as much as possible, spending most of my time outside—another oddity she fails to mention.

It's on the third day it happens. I'm wandering the yard while Isabella prepares her lunch. A sudden sharp cry rings out, followed by the clatter of metal and a solid thump. In three seconds, I'm standing over Isabella's prone body, which is on the kitchen floor. A knife lies beside her, her palm slit open deeply and freely bleeding.

Grasping her wrist, I bring my mouth down to lick at her wound. I can taste the sickness in her blood and the medication flowing through her system. I quickly seal the split in her skin with my venom.

Just as I'm about to pick her up, I lose all use of my body.

My arms and legs go numb, and I topple over beside her on the floor. My skin ignites into flames that rival what I recall of my change: they lick along underneath the dermis as if millions of fire ants are crawling inside me. Napalm trapped under my skin.

I'm paralyzed, and I scream out uncontrollably.

Everything goes dark.

Paralysis.

Blurry vision.

Muddled thoughts.

Pain; so much pain and burning.

Slowly, I become aware of my body. Fire ants still crawl inside me, but the pain is down to a dull roar no worse than the burn in my throat when I thirst. My bodily functions are another story; I'm still paralyzed.

My eyelids flutter open, and I see Isabella's face floating above me. Her expression isn't clear, but I'm pretty sure there's some guilt in her eyes. Why?

My lips won't work, and another group of fire ants starts eating my insides.

"AHHHHHH!" I cry out, my back arching off the floor involuntarily.

Isabella shrinks back with her hand over her mouth. "Edward, I'm sorry you're in pain." Her warm fingers brush over my arm. "I won't be taken back there, though. I can't."

Slowly, my senses return: my vision clears, the pain reduces to a dull throb, my limbs have feeling again. As my mind begins to work, I wonder what the hell happened. I've never heard of a vampire being incapacitated before. We aren't subject to the afflictions that humans experience. The last thing I recall before I collapsed was closing up Isabella's wound.

"Your hand..." I rasp.

"It's fine. Thank you for healing me."

What? How did she know...?

"Healing you?"

"Are you able to move now, Edward?"

"Somewhat. Sensation is returning."

"I'm sorry about this."

"Not your fault..."

"I'm afraid it is," she whispers, and suddenly I smell blood just before it trickles into my mouth.

It's Isabella's blood; I remember the strange taste of it. I try to turn my head away, but I don't have the strength.

And then the napalm-like pain fills me again, and I scream.

"No, please! What are you doing?"

"Feeding you my blood, vampire."

"Why?" The one word encompasses so many things I want to know.

She knows what I am.

"You can't take me in if you can't get up, right?" She sits back against the cabinets with her arms around her knees.

Another round of pain rocks my body, and I cry out again.

"I am sorry about the pain, Edward. I really have no desire to hurt you, and I hope you survive this."

"Survive?" I manage to whisper, rolling my eyes her way.

"My blood is toxic to vampires. James wants me brought back so he can do more experiments on me, but I won't allow that." She looks off in the distance, her eyes unfocused. "I just don't know what to do with you. You could have killed me or dragged me back right away, but you didn't. You even healed my hand. If you were any other vampire, I would have given you a lethal dose."

"Lethal?" I sound like a fucking parrot, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around what's happening.

"If you drink enough of my blood, you'll die. Many have died." Her voice holds no smugness, just a deep, abiding sadness.

"Is there... a cure?"

"No. At least not that I'm aware of. James hid a lot from me, which is why I'm in this predicament."

"He knows?"

Now there are two of her, and a dry burning coats my tongue. It seems my venom is drying up; perhaps that's what will end me.

"Oh, he knows all right. He destroyed my life all because he wants immortality. I'm not bitter that I'm dying, but he's destroyed so many in his quest. And my baby... he took my baby," she wails, rocking back and forth as tears stream down her face.

"Baby?" I parrot her again. I'm holding on to the last shred of consciousness that I can, but everything is slipping.

"My baby. My Hannah."

They're the last words I hear before the darkness comes for me again.

~*RK*~

"Edward... Edward..."

My name echoes around in my head, chasing its own tail like a dog with a mission. So dry, so hot, so numb. My lips and eyelids seem to be glued together. Every single cell in my being aches.

This is reminiscent of my last days as a human, when I lay dying of the Spanish Influenza—before Carlisle changed me.

Carlisle. My sire. He really is a physician, although now I get why Isabella snorted when I said my father is a doctor. She knows what I am. That's why she begged me not to break her; she knew what my strength could do to her fragile little body. Her sick, dying body.

Carlisle would be so curious about Isabella's blood and what it can do. Part of me wonders if Alice has seen my fate, if even now they might be on their way here. I know they would help me even though I flipped them the bird twenty years ago, even though I drink from the people that Carlisle fights every day to save.

"E-Edward?" Isabella's frightened voice filters through my thoughts.

Warmth on my face.

Her petite little hand caresses my skin, and it feels so good. A finger traces around my eyebrows, down over my nose, and across my lips.

Something warm drips onto my neck, rolling beneath the collar of my t-shirt.

"Edward, I'm sorry. Please."

She's crying. It's her tears that gather and soak the cotton of my shirt.

Is she sick? Has she taken a turn for the worse?

It takes a monumental effort, but I open my eyes. It's dark outside; a dim lamp in the living room casts the only light.

Her face looms into my vision, and her skin is red and puffy, her nose running. I can't speak yet, so I wait for her eyes to meet mine.

"Oh! Edward? Can you hear me?"

I blink my eyes because it's all I can manage at the moment.

"I think I gave you too much blood. Please don't die." Her fevered eyes search mine, and despite what she's done to me, I have the urge to comfort her.

It amazes me that what I was once able to do without thinking now takes an immense amount of effort. My lips quiver, and my dry-as-a-bone throat burns for reasons other than thirst for blood. The venom that heals me, keeps me alive, and provides my strength is being consumed by Isabella's blood. Soon, I'll be a desiccated shell, a mummified husk.

"Isabella..." I whisper.

She has to put her ear up to my lips to hear me, and even now, the scent of her beguiles me while I lay dying.

"I won't last much longer... everything is drying up inside me. There are others who can help you. They're vampires... but they live on animal blood. Alice. She's psychic... she can find... Hannah. Protect you." I take a breath—though vampires don't need to breathe, I find I can no longer continue without it. "My phone... in my jacket... her number's there. Tell her... I'm sorry."

And I'm done. I doubt any other words will pass my lips... ever.

I welcome the darkness.

~*RK*~

Thoughts? Theories? Want to yell at me and throw things? *ducks flying objects*

Due to where the story left off, I won't be posting any public teasers on the usual sites this week. There may be a one or two liner on my blog, and I'll send a short one out to reviewers. *ducks more flying objects*

Thank you all for reading! See you next Tuesday!

I'm still working on IWIPB and hoping to get started on Broken Windows soon. I'm so sorry about the delays, and I appreciate your patience so very much.

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If you aren't reading Prey for the Wicked yet... what are you waiting for? Aleeab4u is brilliant, and I'm lucky enough to be her beta. Psst... go read. Preyward is freakin' hot.